It would be a fitting tribute if England could mark the passing of one of their greatest rugby men with a stirring win over the Wallabies. Andy Ripley really was a man in a billion, an inspiration even to those who never saw him rampaging around Twickenham in his prime. That the English game has not produced a more thrillingly athletic forward before or since simply magnifies the huge sense of loss.

Not once did the concept of damage limitation enter Ripley's Corinthian soul, an approach the modern-day England side could do worse than embrace. Maybe Martin Johnson has arrived at the same conclusion, hence the belated decision to select Courtney Lawes for his first Test start. If there is a new age giant out there capable of generating an equal frisson with ball in hand as his head-banded, hippie-loving predecessor, the 21-year-old Lawes could just be the man.

Theoretically Lawes is supposed to be a second-row, all grunt and close-quarter grind. Yet England also need ball carriers capable of knocking opponents backwards and blasting holes in the defensive line for their support runners to exploit. Eighteen months ago the word was already on the grapevine that Northampton had unearthed a gem with a spectacular mix of muscularity and momentum. And then nothing. Picked in England's autumn squad the pretender has had to wait an intensely frustrating nine months for a start. If he has a stormer tomorrow, Lawes can justly claim to have fought his coaches' innate conservatism and won.

The player is aching to have a crack. The shy lad of last autumn, whose confidence slipped away either side of Christmas as he stumbled between the two stools of thwarted national ambition and club graft, has been replaced by a 6ft 7in tall, 18st hard nut, determined to reach out and seize the day. "I definitely feel ready. I feel very confident in myself and I've got a lot of support from the boys and the coaches. I was a little disappointed not to play during the Six Nations and lost my form a bit. But that's fine if you pick yourself up again, which I have done. I'm looking to make an impact throughout the game: win my lineouts, make my tackles and get the ball in hand as much as possible."

There is a physical edge to Lawes that suggests he will be more than prepared to stand toe to toe with the experienced Nathan Sharpe and Rocky Elsom who, along with David Pocock, dominated the contact areas in Perth. There is already sufficient evidence of Lawes's tackling strength to make opponents think twice and his capacity for punishment is bottomless. "I've never been too concerned about my body, to be honest," he said this week. "I like making big tackles but so do most people. They're pretty satisfying but I'm not a dirty player. If they want to get under my skin that's fair enough. I'll just try and hurt them legally."

If he speaks with the zeal of a relatively late convert it is because mini-rugby passed him by. Hailing from an Anglo-Jamaican background, he grew up in Northampton after his father, Linford, moved the family from Hackney when Courtney was four. Home was a few hundred yards from Franklin's Gardens and he used to accompany his dad, a bouncer at a local pub, to martial arts training. Only in his teens at Northampton School for Boys did he sample rugby, eventually joining the Old Scouts club, which also produced Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson. A Northampton club stalwart, Lennie Newman, recalls going to watch his own son play and being deeply impressed by a gangling 17-year-old in the same team. "I remember thinking 'Blimey, this guy is big' but he was good as well. There was something special about him, and his physical size gave him that edge."

Winning the man-of-the-match award against Munster last October, when he stood firm against the Irish Lions Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan, was another significant milestone yet Johnson, perhaps recalling how he felt when he was lobbed into international rugby as a 22-year-old, was determined not to rush him. But Simon Shaw will be 37 in September and time is pressing. Lawes, who can also operate on the blindside flank, is visibly delighted to be escaping bench duty. "You've got enough time to really make a difference in a game … you can do a lot more in 80 minutes than you can in 15. Playing against good sides also makes you raise your game and you can see how far you have to push yourself."

Lawes, in short, has the big-match appetite and the temperament necessary at this level. His appropriately long arms have earned him the name "Spider" but the Wallabies offer a physical and a mental test. "The more I can learn the better I'm going to get. I've got a bit wiser. I know how to get into the game and make a bigger impact. I know where to go to make the tackles and where to get the ball. It's been a tough tour but we're ready."

Ripley never had a koi carp tattooed on one arm or Maori tribal markings on the other but he would have admired the unflinching young dude hoping to create a little lawful disorder tomorrow.